” One Single Word Cannot Define You!”: A mother’s Response to Ghetto Talks

Hello, my name is Regina and I am one of the producers for Ghetto Talks, an original documentary created by student filmmakers from the Urban Arts Partnership Media Lab. Today we interviewed Carmel Sanon, the mother of one of our directors and cinematographers, Omar Cyrille. We decided to interview her for The Ghetto Talks Response Project because we knew that, as a parent, she would have a passionate reaction to the discussion of language and stereotypes in our film.

Ms. Sanon did not disappoint! As the interviewer, I was really touched by many of the thoughts that she shared with us. She talked about the word ghetto in relation to her children and the way it affects them. One thing she said that I felt many people could agree with is that there are so many words that could define one person; one single word cannot do. Overall, I felt that Ms. Sanon took our response project to a whole new level.

The technical part of our interview was also extremely successful. We tried using a different light for the first time, and it made Ms. Sanon’s interview look a little more professional. I was proud of us for challenging ourselves technically on this response piece.

Personally, one thing I really want to improve on as an interviewer is the way I interact with my subjects. I have noticed that I ask follow-up questions that may be slightly off-topic. I need to work on making my follow-up questions as relevant to our topic as possible so that we capture the most information for our film.

The Ghetto Talks production crew is currently looking for more interview candidates. Please write to [email protected] if you have an idea for a response piece. Keep checking back on our blog for more information on the Ghetto Talks Response Project!